Role of Intestinal Parasitic Infection in Stunting

Aim: To review recent findings in the context of the relation between intestinal parasitic infection (IPI) induce the host’s chronic immune activation and systemic inflammation that contributes to stunting.

Discussion: To some extent, based on the parasite species (with the account of the condition of co-infections), combined with its timing (when was the initial infection took place), the duration of the disease, its intensity, and also must be considered the patho-physiology effects, can cause serious effect to their host. Prolonged IPI contributes to the formation of stunting. Active IPI can cause direct dysregulation of growth factors which are important for prenatal and postnatal growth. Furthermore, IPI opens the door for the entry of secondary infections, bacterial and viral, and allowed them to established definite co-infection which can cause prolonged inflammation, locally and systematically. Several potential interrelated mechanistic routes also could be connected through the host’s imbalanced nutritional status, possible environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) due to persistent IPI and prolonged inflammation, hormonal derangement and perhaps also due to metabolic disturbances, immune dynamics, the consequences of definite anaemia, changed microbiota composition, and also changes in epigenetic signature.

Conclusion: Persistent and prolonged IPI induced both chronic immune activation and systemic inflammation that contributes to the formation of stunting, directly and indirectly.